"Some commanders perform this analysis.
If you use these commanders, you will win. "
Sun Tzu's The Art of War 1:2:12-13
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Winning Productively
Sun Tzu saw that success in competition means building winning positions. For Sun Tzu, competition means a comparison of positions. A "battle" is any point of comparison where people decide whose position to support and whose to oppose. Creating conflicts is the most costly way to win these comparisons. Sun Tzu's system teaches us how to systematically advance our positions in the most effective way possible.
Keys to The Art of War
Sun Tzu's book is one of the most valuable works in human history. It is also one of the most difficult to understand. Much of Sun Tzu's writing is based on concepts in traditional Chinese science and philosophy with which modern readers are unfamiliar. Simply reading an English translation of Sun Tzu gives you very little idea of his methods. There are a number of serious barriers that stand in the way of our understanding the text. Much of what it teaches is diametrically opposed to what we think we "know" about competition.
To get you started, we give you an idea what the book covers in this brief summary of its chapters. We then explain the work's underlying cultural context and roots in Chinese science, especially its methods of diagramming relationships.
Today's Article on Sun Tzu
Below is one of the 232 articles in our Sun Tzu's Rule Book. Each explains one aspect of Sun Tzu' science and a step-by-step process for using it. We offer a new article every day following our Rule Book's Outline.
To get rewarded, others must recognize the value in supporting us. Their alternatives are either ignoring us or challenging us. We will not get this recognition without the properly gauging the value of our position (8.2 Making Claims). In making claims, we run into two opposite problems with gauging value: the problem of an ego and the problem of insecurity. Our ego tempts us into inflated claims. Our insecurity frightens us away from making any claims. Most people know neither the key elements that make a position valuable nor the role of perspective in gauging the value of a position.
Gauging the value of a new position involves both objective (physical) and subjective (people's opinions) components of a strategic position (1.2 Subobjective Positions). Our opportunity depends heavily on leveraging what people think, the subjective aspect of this equation (3.6 Leveraging Subjectivity). This is an economic issue. It is less costly to change people's subjective impressions than our physical situation (3.1.2 Strategic Profitability). Even if we physically control a gold mine, its value requires a subjective judgment: the perception of our ownership.
The following five rules describe the methods by which we gauge the value of our position to make a claim.
- Our claims must be both believable and relevant to others....
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| Peter Drucker on Strategic Planning It is remarkable how the same lessons need to be rediscovered again and again. Sun Tzu dealt with the confusion between a warrior's adaptive strategy in dealing with competing people and long-term planning in dealing with objects. We are still dealing with it today. In this 1973 book, Management... More... |
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